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A Natural Treatment For Hot Flashes(05/04/2004)by Unknown Reprinted from Vol. XVII, No. 8 (c)1999 DKT International, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. All Rights Reserved. January, 1999 "There I was, in the middle of an important presentation that I had worked on for three months, standing in front of maybe 200 people when I felt it coming," said Laurie, a 49-year-old insurance executive. "I tried to act like nothing was happening, but I felt my whole face turning bright red and the perspiration running down my cheeks. I was so embarrassed. I didn't know what to do." Like Laurie, millions of women who are getting close to menopause have experienced the all-too-uncomfortable invasion of hot flashes. In fact, they are the most common and among the most unpleasant of the symptoms that accompany a woman's change of life. In her best-selling book, The Silent Passage, Gail Sheehy notes that about half of all women who have hot flashes begin experiencing them while still menstruating, starting as early as age 40. Sheehy wrote, "Studies show that most women have hot flashes for two years. One-quarter of women have them for five years. And 10 percent have them for the rest of their lives." Hot flashes can strike at any time, at an important board meeting, on a date, or even during sleep when a woman can awaken drenched in sweat. They also can have a very negative impact on her sex life. For women who experience frequent and/or severe hot flashes, the fear that they can strike at anytime may deter her from making love altogether. A strike of hot flashes during intercourse may cause such discomfort that she withdraws, leaving her partner bewildered. Hot flashes also may be accompanied by unpleasant tingling sensations in hands and feet, headaches, nervousness, and insomnia - none of which is conducive to relaxed or happy lovemaking. Many women experience both hot flashes and vaginal dryness (which is easily treated), compounding their sexual difficulties. It is important that partners discuss these changes and that he understand that she is not rejecting him sexually, but she may need a bit of time to recover from her distress. The discomfort of hot flashes is a major reason that many women turn to hormone replacement therapy (HRT). That works for many, but some women are concerned about side effects of HRT. Though HRT has the beneficial effect of decreasing the risk of heart attacks, it increases the risk of breast and endometrial cancers. Millions of women wonder if there is a better solution. "Yes," said Robert R. Freedman, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences and obstetrics and gynecology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. "It's yoga breathing, slow abdominal breathing." With the proper use of breathing techniques, Freedman said that his research has proved that most women can decrease the frequency of hot flashes by about 50 percent. The Discovery Freedman came upon his discovery by accident in the mid-1980's while conducting research on a disorder called Raynaud's disease that is characterized by cold hands. Through biofeedback, he was able to help relieve the discomfort of the cold hands. As it happened, one of his graduate students mentioned that his mother was suffering from hot flashes but was unable to undertake hormone replacement because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. "He had read my work showing that I could take cold women and make them warm, so he wanted to know if I could take warm women and make them cold," said Freedman. "I told him I didn't have a clue, but I would try. And that's how this work began." Testing different disciplines, including biofeedback and relaxation techniques, Freedman discovered that "the whole effect was accomplished by the breathing alone, so now that is what we teach." Most people breathe between 15 and 17 times per minute. In the yoga breathing technique taught by Freedman, women are trained to cut this in half, breathing only 8 or 9 times a minute. And not only do the women breathe more slowly, they also learn to breathe more deeply. Taught to expand their bellies and decrease chest breathing, their breathing is no longer shallow but instead comprises full breaths. The yoga term is "belly breathing." Freedman believes the best way for women to learn this breathing technique is by enrolling in a yoga class. "It is very important to have a human trainer to observe you and give you feedback on what you are doing right and wrong," he said. "You do better training with a person as opposed to a book or a video." Almost all yoga classes teach breathing, the core of this ancient discipline. Once a woman has learned belly breathing, she should practice it twice a day for 15 minutes at a time. She also should use yoga breathing in situations where she is likely to have a hot flash, such as warm spaces. Sometimes a woman can feel a flash coming and the breathing will abort it or lessen its severity. Will other people notice what she is doing? "I think you can do it unobtrusively, but some people are self-conscious," he said. "Ideally, I would like to develop some kind of conditioning procedure that would be automatic and unobtrusive, but I haven't come up with the idea yet." Freedman has taught yoga breathing techniques to hundreds of women over the past 10 years, and papers documenting his controlled studies have appeared in publications including the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Menopausal Changes "Menopause" actually refers to a point in time, the moment of a woman's last menstrual period. This point can only be identified after about a year of not menstruating. "Perimenopause" is the period leading up to menopause and "postmenopause" is the time after. For most women, hot flashes begin in the perimenopausal period. Some women never experience hot flashes while others have them for differing durations. Some have brief, mild flushing, and others have as many as 24 or more severe hot flashes daily. Hormonal changes, including fluctuating levels of estrogen, cause hot flashes, although the exact mechanism is still unclear. Heart, blood flow and perspiration rates increase, and the skin becomes warm and reddens. In most cases, hot flashes disappear after a few minutes, but they can last for up to an hour. When flashes occur at night, they can cause serious loss of sleep. Other Possible Remedies Besides HRT, which often solves the problem, other approaches that have been tried include the following:
Freedman's Views Freedman is generally in favor of HRT although he points out that controversy surrounds the potential long-term effects. However, the women he has worked with over the years are not on HRT. "About half the women who come to me have had breast cancer [and are not able to use HRT] and the other half are women who refuse to take any medication at all or have tried HRT and went off it because they didn't like the side effects, like weight gain, bloating, or bleeding," he said. Freedman, for one, is skeptical about the other alternatives. "I would not make a big deal about avoiding caffeine or alcohol," he said. He thinks studies on soy products are unconvincing, believes exercise can make hot flashes worse, and cautions that vitamin and herbal products can be dangerous due to poor regulation. "You don't know what you're getting," he said, noting that a woman with breast cancer could have problems if she uses too many soy products, which are high in genistein, an estrogen-like substance. But he does agree that staying cool is effective. "One thing that definitely increases hot flashes is heat," he said. "So if you have a couple of hundred dollars, go out and buy an air conditioner for your bedroom. That's the best advice I can give." Besides breathing techniques, which he is convinced work well - though he is not yet able to fully explain why. "Women who've been trained to use this technique as soon as they feel a flush coming on are often able to abort the flash," said Freedman. "Or at least reduce its severity." This article appears in the following topics: |
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